


Check Meowt

by idioticfangirl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:09:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5460887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idioticfangirl/pseuds/idioticfangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Will is an overexcited medical student, and Nico is harassed, sleep deprived, and doesn't like cats.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Check Meowt

Nico was taking his usual route to college, headphones plugged in and turned all the way up so that he could ignore the world and focus on not collapsing from lack of sleep - the sheer amount of work required to research forensic science was astonishing - when he heard the most high-pitched shriek that he had ever had the misfortune to be within earshot of.

Gingerly, he pulled one of his headphones out, legs tensed and ready to run whenever whatever danger had befallen the screaming made its way to him. The screaming continued, seeming to get closer, and he wondered, morbidly, whether someone had died and if so, how.

To his surprise, the street was empty save for one black cat, which hared towards and past him with something small and blue in its mouth. Nico watched it go for one second, before deciding that he actually didn't care about what was going on, and putting his headphones back in. Just before he played the music again, he heard someone behind him, yelling.

"Quick, catch that cat! It stole my wallet!"

He turned, trying to work out who could be shouting such a ridiculous thing, only to be blinded by the morning sun. Squinting against the glare, all that he could see was a tall, slim silhouette which seemed to have absorbed the sun's powers as the rays glowed from behind it. Momentarily struck by this image, Nico stood stock still as the silhouette ran towards him, and into him, almost sending him sprawling as he took the jolt on the shoulder.

"Sorry!" He heard a voice yell as they ran out of view. 

Shaking his head, Nico wondered why there was always so many drunk people around in the morning around his college, and finally played his music once more.

As though the universe was conspiring to make his day as strange as possible, Nico didn't get further than two streets before he saw the person once more, leaning against a wall and panting. This time, at least, the sun wasn't blinding him, so he could finally see the face that belonged to the drunk idiot. 

And he was - Nico searched for a better word - blinding. His hair was a shining blonde, his eyes a bright blue, and his even, healthy tan made his face seem to glow. Even more surprisingly, he noticed as he attempted to pull his eyes from them, the guy didn't seem to be drunk. If he wasn't panting, he could have passed for any other student making their way to the complex, even if surely he would never blend into the crowd when he was so much more striking than anyone Nico had ever seen.

"That cat," the boy was still panting, almost unhealthily wheezing as he attempted to get his breath back, "has stolen my wallet." Nico glanced up to where the same black cat was sitting triumphantly on top of a wall, with what had to be the guy's wallet in its mouth. "And it won't give it back."

Sighing, Nico took one step forward, a deep breath, and yelled, "Boo!" The cat wasted no time in high-tailing it out of there, dropping the wallet in its haste, which Nico picked up, wiped off without really thinking about why, and returned to its rightful owner.

"Was that so hard?" He mocked.

"I tried that like," the guy waved his arms, "700 times! And it didn't work! "

Nico shrugged. "Animals don't like me much."

The guy checked his watch, swore, and bounced up from the wall. "I'm gonna be late to my first lecturer! And the medics lecture hall is always full up oh shit I've got to go!" He began to jog, twisting as he went to yell, "Thank you so much for saving me, hopefully see you around? I'm Will!" and wave before full-on sprinting in the direction of the college.

"Well," Nico muttered to himself, "okay then."

 

Three days later, and Nico hadn't seen Will again. Somewhere during this time (probably the first day) he had given up on attempting to convince himself that he wasn't on the look out for him, and from the looks of things he wasn't convincing his friends either. Piper, the expert in all things like this, was definitely not fooled, and Annabeth was too smart for her own good. Even Percy, who acted so dumb, was suspecting something.

So when, as the four of them left the lecture hall with Jason, Hazel, Frank and Leo, Nico thought he caught sight of a familiar brilliant blonde mop of hair, he didn't even bother to hide his excitement. Immediately he was standing on his tiptoes, lamenting his small stature, and searching almost desperately to see where they could possibly have gone.

He didn't find Will, so the only consequence of this was that he was uncharacteristically unprepared when someone grabbed him around the waist and yelled "My saviour!"

Nico jumped, startled for a split second before he automatically lashed out with a flat palm. Whoever was behind him tried to dodge, and succeeded enough that the hand that would have gone straight to his cheek flapped rather uselessly, although still powerfully, against their shoulder.

When Nico turned around, he immediately began to apologise profusely, as Will was standing there, grinning as though he hadn't just been attacked. He waved off everything that Nico said, and ignored any grumbles about personal space as he put his arm around him and announced to the onlooking crowd of Nico's amused friends, "He saved my life!"

"What did he do?" Leo asked, eyes wide and innocent as they always were before he made a sexual joke. Nico made an aborted movement towards him, too late since Leo's mouth was already open, but thankfully Frank was on hand to slap a palm over the smaller boy's mouth and add,

"Yeah, what did he do?"

"Scared off a cat that was attacking me and rescued my wallet while doing it," if Will noticed anything odd about the group, he said nothing, instead launching into a tale that was far more dramatic than Nico remembered, and ending it with, "so really, I should thank him by taking him out for coffee? If you're free?"

"Oh yes," Piper nodded, grabbing Jason and Leo's hand and pulling them, and effectively the rest of the group, backwards to leave, "he's very free."

"In every way!" Leo had managed to extricate himself from Frank, and Nico turned a red as Will nodded enthusiastically and pulled Nico in the direction of the cafe, firing questions at him that Nico couldn't help but open up to.

On the way, they saw a familiar black cat, but instead of yelling at it Nico bent down to it and whispered, "Thank you."


End file.
